You know, I'm just not certain I'm ready for Bob Marley healing right now. Still a little stuck on "Circulate this to everyone you know." I merit a smear campaign for defending what I wrote?

Oh, no, right: I merit that for my ageism. We all recall how often I tell Jill Filipovic to mind her elders, or how often I tell the Valenti sisters they're too young to know what they're talking about. Or how much I brag on what a smart kid I was.

Some young people are smart. And some young people get stuck in a love of the abstract and the theoretical, wanting to make humanity fit theory instead of making theory fit humanity.

I am not a data point. The women I know are not data points. And I don't give a fuck what "cunt" means in Old English, Thai, or Tagalog. I give a fuck how it's applied to women today in the American idiom.

That you and zuzu and Auguste went over and took up for me cheered me up, though. When I mentioned it initially, I hadn't actually read it--I was just cracking up over the title.

Still a little stuck on "Circulate this to everyone you know." I merit a smear campaign for defending what I wrote?

Oh, no, right: I merit that for my ageism.

He's being a total asshole. Even if you were ageist*, one comment on one blog does not merit having you smeared on a wide variety of blogs.

*BTW, he's totally changed the meaning of that word anyway. Age, as a defined class that is discriminated against, is those over the age of 40. He doesn't qualify. I do, and I have to say, you were so totally not discriminating against those of us over the age of 40.

It's true, though. You were making a judgement of Alon's character based on his age.

To wit: You referred to the possibility that his propensity for spouting condescending pseudointellectual tripe, his general undeserved smugness, and his inability to learn from his mistakes — nor even to admit that they ARE mistakes — might be something he'll "grow out of."

After attempting to converse with Alon for a couple years, I strongly disagree with this ageist assessment. If his prickish cluelessness were the result of immaturity, then surely it would have abated at some point between ages 17 and 19. If anything, it's gotten stronger, as we see here: men can insult him with impunity, but women who dare to question him are met with howls of outrage. I didn't see him doing this two years ago, so clearly this condition is not something he's "growing out of."

I think it's clear that we're dealing with an innate facet of his character here, and how dare you condescend to him by implying he might not always be an asshole. You bad person you.

I'm afraid I'm not getting this "Circulate this to everyone you know" business. The last time I heard this phrase, it was in an email from Lyndon LaRouche (still don't know how I got on that list). Have you run afoul of the LaRouchies?